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I’ve been getting ludicrously short shelf life on some produce in the past year or so. Get a bag of carrots Thursday after work, there’s mold by Saturday. I don’t think that was common three years ago.
I’ve noticed that too
I was told im not spending more. So I guess im not?
Akchually according to this chart you’re better off now, so stop complaining, you’re fine. /s
And hey, we’re also way more likely to get sick from the products, and then we can pay even more at the hospital (if they’re still open in rural American in a couple of years). Capitalism at work, folks.
I don’t eat ground beef but the people i cook for do. I could not figure out wtf was wrong with the regular grocery store ground beef, no matter how i cooked it it was coming out weird; very dense and chewy no matter how it was cooked. Also if you ever get that weird whiff of ammonia from beef i thought it was just spoiled.
Then I learned that Pink Slime didn’t go away, they just changed the laws so they could add up to a certain percentage of pink slime to ground beef without identifying it. I believe it’s up to 15% where i live. Suddenly the quality difference between the store ground beef and the next price tier makes a lot of sense. Also the ammonia smell as it’s part of the processing. Fucking vile what american governments allow capitalists to get away with at our expense.
I told the folks who eat it and they just said okay buy the more expensive stuff then. Trying to use the experience to nudge them towards plant based alternatives but it’s an uphill battle.
I’ve been buying bison or free roam beef lately. The cheap beef we used to get is always sold out. Actually, I like this stuff better. Way less greasy.
I cannot recommend enough just getting a big ol bag of vital wheat gluten for this reason.
I use essentially this recipe to replace everything I would normally use hamburger, sausage, etc. for. It’s so quick and easy! Simply replacing the seasonings/ketchup with various other seasonings/sauces as if they were the marinade (ie a hamburger uses paprika, beef bouillon, poultry seasoning, onion/garlic and worcestershire) allows for endless variation and different kinds of “meats”.
If making patties, meatballs, etc., let the dough rest ~15min. then get it a little damp before forming and cooking.
Adding in a bit of normal cooking flour, chickpea flour, malt, etc. allows for adjusting the texture as desired.
Very quick and easy to whip up, no more ammonia smell, perfectly marinated flavor every time, and consistent texture with absolutely no gristle.
Y’all remember how big rice crispy treats used to be?
And they aren’t gooey anymore
Grocery value didn’t go up. Real wages went down. We should measure inflation based on cost-of-living.
Groceries don’t really get more expensive, because the methods for producing food don’t really get less efficient over time; if anything, it’s more efficient. So there’s no real reason for them to become more expensive.
Instead, wages declined. I’ve already commented many times that the labor market is a free market, that means it’s regulated by Supply and Demand. I.e., if prices for labor go down, as we can observe, then that can be interpreted such that supply of labor went up (women go to work too, offshoring labor to other countries, immigrants, …) or that demand for labor went down (automation, end of growth, …).
I honestly think that both cases are difficult, where the supply of labor could be a bit reduced by kicking out immigrants and home-shoring labor (and also, to a lesser extent, making it more difficult for women to work), which btw some advisers to trump are seemingly trying to do, but my honest opinion is that it won’t bring wages up to how they were in the 1960s. Demand for labor is shrinking too, due to the end of growth and now AI and other automation techniques. I guess we’ll have to face that.
edit: just to offer an optimistic outlook, i think that consumerism and therefore demand for consumer products could be stimulated by simply giving handouts to people. most people will spend most of the handouts immediately, and that stimulates consumerism. and that in turn stimulates the economy.
Groceries don’t really get more expensive, because the methods for producing food don’t really get less efficient over time; if anything, it’s more efficient. So there’s no real reason for them to become more expensive.
While I’m with you on the economic theory, the past 5 years proved that theory out the window. Yes, there were shortages and logistical issues that caused price spikes, but many grocery items never came back down, or have been held at artificially higher prices since. S&D postulates that when there are a higher number of units on the market, prices will drop. But when you have the corporate consolidation that we’ve seen in America where there are fewer producers (especially in name brand goods, aka one producer) as well as fewer retailers, the models don’t work as they would if we were in a pure free market where producers and retailers can enter the market at any time. As such, those fewer producers and retailers can hold prices artificially higher as their businesses are scaled out (nevermind that the likes of Kroger, the largest grocer in the country, has posted record profits in recent years, as have many entities that make up the core components of the CPI), and they can leverage market position to make entering the market untenable for an upstart.
And the problem with handouts is that they come from the govt, where the treasury prints money, thereby reducing the value of the existing money supply and increasing costs on goods as suppliers and retailers raise prices because of the increased money supply, aka modern inflation.
And the problem with handouts is that they come from the govt, where the treasury prints money, thereby reducing the value of the existing money supply and increasing costs on goods as suppliers and retailers raise prices because of the increased money supply, aka modern inflation.
Yep that’s why we need a wealth tax sothat the government doesn’t go into more debt.
I’m glad that I picked up cooking during Covid. I don’t really eat out anymore or buy junk food. So I just have to deal with higher grocery prices… to supplement the rich.
Housing, food, energy, education, and vehicles have all massively accelerated in cost while wages stay the same. We’re plummeting toward a crash in the US.
Is it really a crash if 1% of the US feel absolutely no ill effects? After all they are the ones writing the headlines, not us plebs who are usually just bickering with each other over scraps.
They’re just hoping Elysium becomes a thing sooner than later.
Sam’s club has sold me rotten meat twice so far this year
I love picking up packages and seeing 90 grams, 450 grams etc. That’s how you really know that the quarterly doubling prices and shrinkflation go hand in hand :3
And it’s not just package sizes! I used to drink those Naked Juice smoothies, because they were all thick and creamy, with the main ingredients being blended bananas and strawberries.
Then a little while ago I noticed they weren’t thick and creamy anymore. They were super thin and watery. At first I thought maybe I just got a bad batch, but eventually realized that was the new normal. I checked the ingredients list, and sure enough, apple juice is now the primary ingredient.
I checked the ingredients list, and sure enough, apple juice is now the primary ingredient.
Bummer, I haven’t had a Naked in awhile now but I used to love them.
Yeah they’re nothing like they used to be. I don’t bother with them anymore.
I also like that they no longer align with typically required measurements for recipes. Nothing gets me off more than having to calculate fractions for amounts of ingredients.
Thankfully it hasn’t caused many issues to me personally :3
Usually the differences are small enough that they don’t change the consistency or the taste to a significant level, at least in the shrinkflation I’ve seen where I live
I am probably too pedantic for that. If the recipe says 500g of this with 250g of that, it’s typically a good 2:1 mix and the packaging sizes often aligned. Now you have shit like 400g and 220g and you can’t easily align them anymore. Realistically it probably won’t matter even if it’s not a nearly perfect 2:1 mix either. But … I can’t help myself :D
That doesn’t work for me because part of the issue is the number of servings I get at the end and the size of the cooking container. Example: random veggie casserole calls for 1 pound frozen broccoli, 1 pound frozen caulflower, 1 medium onion, 3 stalks celery, and a bunch of other stuff (rice, cheese, spices, breadcrumbs, etc.).
Frozen veg is now mostly bagged at 3/4 of a pound instead of a full pound (same with certain pasta). While I can theoretically use 1.5 bags or reduce other measures by 25%, I don’t want a bunch of half-bags in the freezer – and if I make a casserole that’s 75% the size… well, I don’t have a 75% sized casserole dish so it still has to bake in the dish I’ve used to decades, but now as a sad thin version of what it ought to be – and it typically dries out while cooking (if I don’t try to fix it).
That’s the “pedantic” part that also gets me, but realistically it doesn’t really work out anyway, because the “servings” are individual sizes. I can’t really calculate exactly how much everyone is going to eat. So even if the recipe turns out the exact amount it intended, it could still be too much or not enough, simple because someone is more or less hungry than usual / expected.
I like having reproducible results, but practically with food it just doesn’t happen perfectly, even if I actually measure everything perfectly (amounts, time, etc.)
Fair :3
I just can’t be bothered to go dig out more ingredients if a recipe says 400g of butter and the packages are 180g each or smth lol
luckily you also get less of them for the increased price
“Waiter! This food is terrible! And the portions are so small.”
I want to emphasize that insurance does not function to GRANT healthcare but to DENY it. Doctors grant healthcare as providers. When they prescribe it, they’ve granted it. Then insurance steps in and says, “wait a minute.” Their only function is to deny medical care. Not pay for it - the patient does that through premiums etc. To deny it. Why do we need a healthcare DENIAL system?
The answer for why corporations need private insurance denials, is because of Hot Coffee, Erin Brokovich - we could class action sue over the bad and contaminated products companies sell us, bc it would be able to be detected. Flint, MI, was caught by testing a kid on Medicare - because they have access to healthcare. The FDA, USDA, etc should actually pay for Medicare for all to GUARANTEE their work in making sure products are safe imo. That includes these shit ass groceries without safety checks. Why should I have to pay for the government’s failure to do their job? They should guarentee it and track it so they can do their jobs.
You lost?
Can you read two paragraphs to understand how the “quality of food” part of the meme connects to this?
Can you read two paragraphs
Yup. I did this before commenting.
understand how the “quality of food” part of the meme connects to this?
Nope. Are the grocery stores the insurance companies? the doctors? Maybe the food producers are? Are they denying us… quality?
The FDA, USDA, etc should actually pay for Medicare for all to GUARANTEE their work in making sure products are safe imo. That includes these shit ass groceries without safety checks.
You can’t read, that’s so sad
You are the first in this post (including OP) to mention food safety, which you appear to have done randomly.
The meme references quality, which is directly impacted by whether the food is rotten, full of lead, moldy, fermented, dry/squishy, worms/bugs, etc, and that is enforced by testing for quality control and issuing various consequences.
Ad populum is a fallacy btw. It’s okay to have original thoughts 🌈
The meme references quality, which is directly impacted by whether the food is rotten, full of lead, moldy, fermented, dry/squishy, worms/bugs, etc, and that is enforced by testing for quality control and issuing various consequences.
Sure. Also plenty of other things that have little to do with safety, as such, and more to do with them being generally nutritious, tasty, fresh vs processed, etc.
Ad populum is a fallacy btw. It’s okay to have original thoughts 🌈
Agreed. Not sure how this is relevant here, though.
While you’re looking up fallacies, red herring is a good one that this particular comment chain has made me think about.
Like 4/5ths of the average American diet used to be canned or frozen, so I kind of don’t agree.
Fun Fact, the heir to the Swanson brand is Tucker Carlson, a Fox News show host so bad that his false statements have gotten the network sued on multiple occasions and the defense was that his statements fall under fair use due to being so absurd that no reasonable person would believe them. He actually started the Hydroxychloroquine trend during the pandemic by bringing on a non-doctor to promote the drug with a fake study.
Millions if not billions of dollars were wasted on the drugs distribution and more and more studies when it was effectively useless or in many cases harmful.
Sorry. Went a bit off topic there just now, lol.
Millions if not billions of dollars were wasted on the drugs distribution and more and more studies when it was effectively useless or in many cases harmful.
Humans are fucking pakleds.
No way. Do you buy produce? At least around me the produce in supermarkets is absolutely garbage and it has been for quite some time. This predates trump. I’m not talking about “oh they put out the ugly onions jeez” I’m talking flavorless, mushy, literal moldy and rotting sometimes.
Alternatively you can go to the farmers market. It’s only open on Saturday from 9-1, convenient, and costs 30-40% more, but your food isn’t flavorless mush at least that rots within 3 days because they aren’t rotating stock anymore. But even the options here aren’t as good as they were
Global warming will continue to devastate supply chains and make food worse and worse until we finally have to just eat literal slop that has barely any nutrients and was imported from halfway across the world
Sorry to hear that, but maybe it is your location? I haven’t seen too many issues with produce where I am from, outside the price. Farmers markets are the best still and normally cost less than stores, so it is beneficial to try and go to them. It’s still the same crappy hours, though, haha.
I don’t know if we’re all in different places, but I agree with @ragebutt@lemmy.dbzer0.com. In particular, every bag of onions and potatoes I’ve bought in the last couple years have had at least one bad veg so damaged that I couldn’t use it – like rotting on the inside kinds of bad. Lettuce seems smaller and more dirty, and everything generally seems older by the time it gets to the store. The only way I can get fruit with any flavor is by going to local farm standsand paying top dollar.
